Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA,) the Vice-Chair of the House Republican Conference just told me in a blogger conference call that not one single Republican is expected to vote for the proposed Democratic healthcare reform legislation expected to be voted on by Congress this weekend.  Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) related that one of his colleagues in the House characterized the current debate on healthcare as being between only "the left and the far left," and that you could take it to the bank that the GOP would present a solid front.

McMorris Rodger's comments echoed those of House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA,) who told the protesters attending yesterday's "House Call" in Washington, DC that "Be assured not one Republican will vote for this bill."

Speaking of the "House Call," Rep. McMorris Rodgers said that it created quite a buzz on Capitol Hill yesterday and that it was vitally important for such efforts to continue.  The issue is far from settled yet.  Rep. Hastings said that Speaker Pelosi was pushing the vote more because of legislative deadlines than the fact that the Democrats has the 218 votes necessary to pass the legislation.  The vote count is fluid, and changes from hour to hour.  So fluid in fact, that House Democrats rushed newly elected Bill Owens from New York's 23rd District down to be sworn in.  When the count reaches 218, the Democrats will have the vote.

McMorris Rodgers stated that House Democrats are trying to put a "happy face" on the recent elections in New Jersey and Virginia which have made the Democratics very nervous, particularly more the more conservative "blue dog" Democrats.  The issues of federal funding of abortions and public option for illegal immigrants are still very much in play.  54 Democrats signed a letter opposing abortion in the healthcare reform bill, and many of those are not the same as the 34 who oppose the public option.  But, as this a top priority for the Obama administration, arms are being twisted, and Speker Pelosi wants it to be appear to be on track.  According to McMorris Rodgers, Pelosi is negotiating with pro-life Dems to find what language they would consider acceptable without having to remove the abortion provisions.

Unfortunately, according to Rep. Hastings, what isn't in play is the $730 billion tax increase that this legislation creates with a 5.4% surcharge on those grossing over $500,000 a year.  This surcharge is not indexed, meaning it will go up over time, as well as the employer mandate.

House Republicans have proposed a plan that would reduce health insurance premiums by $5,000 per family by adding more coverage and more choices.  Democrats, however, have chosen to centralize healthcare and thereby reduce choices.

THIS ISN'T OVER YET.  CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN OR CONGRESSWOMAN TODAY!!!!

Is This The End of the Washington State GOP?

A wave of dread and doom descended on Washington State Republicans as election results in this off year election were finally counted. The general election result that shattered any hope of Republican resurgence in the state was the King County Executive’s race. Councilman Dow Constantine smashed blue dog, moderate Democrat Susan Hutchinson in that election contest. Republicans in King County now go down in defeat again in their attempt to elect someone other than radical, leftwing, crackpots like Constantine. Many are questioning why the King County Republican Party backed Susan and not a principled conservative in the first place!

Here in Snohomish County Republican conservative John Koster ran up some impressive numbers as he defeated Seattle crackpot Paul Brainerd’s candidate for the Snohomish County Council. There is already talk that Koster will run against a weak and vulnerable Aaron Reardon for County Executive in 2011. Elsewhere, Democrats continued their dominance in the county by re-electing a very unpopular Dave Somers over a token Republican candidate in the 5^th Council District using low turn outs and outright lies combined with little or no campaign cash for Steve Dana. They also elected blue dog Democrat Joe Wilson to the Snohomish County bench, and Dave Gossett in the 4^th Council District. Word reached me on election night that the Democrats can’t wait to vote in a MAJOR property tax increase before the end of November. They apparently are going to ignore record high unemployment in the county and try to completely destroy what is left of the county’s economy now that Boeing is leaving.

Out of the dust of this off year election came some positive news. A group of concerned Republicans and conservatives have decided to begin the process of purging the left of center leadership in the state GOP at the State and County level. This campaign will probably include some of last year’s Ron Paul supporters in the state, but I understand that some surprising names in the rank and file GOP leadership will be leading this effort. In order to accomplish their goal, it is going to be necessary to do away with the current leadership at the Washington State Republican Party. The first target in this purge will be to get rid of Luke Esser as State Chairman. 

As a conservative from Bellevue explained it to me, “Luke has presided over major defeats in 2008 and now 2009; it’s time for a change!” The fact that Esser has continued to support Rob McKenna, the left of center Mainstream Republican for a future run for Governor, has caused some problems in Snohomish County in particular, where one major figure in the GOP told me on election night, “Rob will never carry this county for Governor; no matter how many people he sweet talks in the party.”

Both RINO lefties, Reed and McKenna, refused to support I-1033 and that move has angered the rank and file GOP Precinct Committee Officers in King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties, according to my sources. Also McKenna’s attempt to allow publication all the names of those who signed the R-71 petition to put homosexual marriage on the ballot has even the state’s libertarians up in arms. One of the leaders in the Reject R-71 campaign wondered out loud to me on election night why McKenna remains in the GOP, “He walks like a Democrat, talks like a Democrat; therefore he must be a Democrat. What the hell is so hard to understand about that?” It is widely known that both Reed and McKenna went out of their way to oppose the attempt to roll back “Homosexual Marriage” in Washington, at odds with the majority of the GOP rank and file.

What about 2010? Well, other parts of the nation may have an easy time knocking off Democrats in the House of Representatives, but bleak prospects face Republicans in Western Washington. Even though GOP incumbent Dave Reichert has a war chest in the 8^th CG, his vote in favor of the insane Cap and Tax bill probably dooms him to defeat against an extremely well financed Democrat that has yet to announce their candidacy (according to my sources). In the 1^st CG and the 2^nd CG both Democrats Rick Larsen and Jay Inslee are vulnerable to a challenge, but Republicans cannot come up with candidates or the $2 million dollars per campaign that it would cost to defeat either incumbent Democrat! I expect the GOP to run the typical token and under financed congressional candidates in these races.

As for the State Legislature, ‘slim pickens’ face the GOP in Snohomish and King Counties not only because they have no candidates they also have zero money available to finance campaigns. Dan Kristiansen, the 39^th GOP State House Representative and the Chair of House Republicans told me bluntly that they will have to pick and choose which candidates to support because of the lack of funding and little if any campaign contributions. 

At the state level, Rob McKenna and Sam Reed continue to play the Dan Evans ‘bell curve’ game hoping to get re-elected, but they will have to do it without the support of most county GOP organizations. This next time they come up for election they will be facing not only well financed opposition from the Democrats but a major effort to throw them out of office. Washington State Democratic Chief Dwight Pelz believes the best way to deal with Rob McKenna and Sam Reed is to go after them, head on! To make matters worse, several conservative Republicans are eyeing these races with the full intention of knocking them off. So McKenna and Reed are both under fire from both political parties. Not a good situation to be in.

Whatever happens this next year, Washington State continues its downward drop into the economic abyss. I even hear that crackpot Governor Gregoire intends to push for passage of a STATE Cap and Trade global warming measure with the full intention of imposing a massive energy tax resulting in potential rationing on electrical and energy use across the board in Washington State. She will also be pushing for a state income tax to be placed on the ballot in 2010. If these two items were to pass into law, many believe that this state would suffer an economic collapse unlike anything that has ever happened before. Possibly worse than the great depression and the 1971 Supersonic Transport disaster when Boeing laid off 60,000 people.

KIRO talker Dori Monson nailed it with this evaluation of Tuesday's election here in Washington:

This may be the most singular one-party state in the nation.

New Jersey and Virginia voted for Obama a year ago - but for Republican governors tonight... Liberal Maine rejected gay marriage... Blue-state California voters earlier this year rejected tax increases...

But in Washington, our one-controlling-party mentallity rolls on.

King County government is facing a $54-million deficit - and one of the people who got the county into that financial mess has been elected Exec - because he's a Dem.

Init-1033 restricting the growth of government? Rejected.

Gay partnerships? Supported.

Huge property tax increase in Seattle for low income housing? Of course! Seattle never saw a tax increase the voters didn't love.

I evaluate each race and issue on its individual merits (I supported Ref-71 - everyone other endorsement I made on the above races lost). But despite national trends favoring Republicans, in Washington the vast majority of voters are robots. Every Democrat wins. Every expansion of government passes. Every liberal cause prevails.

The unions chased Boeing out of the state - and every winning candidate paid tribute to their big-money union support. Our unemployment rate is well above the national average. Our state is facing another multi-billion dollar deficit. King County has a $54-million deficit. Seattle a $40-million deficit.

Why wouldn't we stay the course? Election Day was business as usual in our one-party state.

Remember, Governor Gregoire made this astonishing statement over a month before Election Day:

I've told them [Democratic legislators] come on in and convince me that's [raising taxes] the right thing to do and that people will support it. At some point the people, I assume, don't want us to take any more cuts. I'm already hearing about 'why did you cut education?' Well there aren't any options

Many political observers were stunned that Gregoire would reverse her "no new taxes" stance so close to the election and felt that she was handing a win to Tim Eyman on a silver platter.  Wrong.  The Governor knows her liberal Pugetopolis base well and counted on the fact that I-1033 would be outspent some $3 million to none by wealthy liberal opponents of I-1033.  More importantly, local elected officials throughout the state, both Republican and Democrat, joined in the scare-it-to-ya chorus against I-1033.

"At some point the people, I assume, don't want us to take any more cuts."  Don't you think that is the takeaway from Washington voter's rejection of I-1033?  It certainly will be among Democrats in Olympia.  It already is at the Northwest Progressive Insititute, which proudly proclaimed that "Collapse of Tim Eyman's Initiative 1033 proves that teabaggers are just a fringe."

Now, I don't think even Democrats are stupid enough to introduce new taxes in an election year, but if Washington Republicans don't make significant gains in the legislature in 2010, look out for the next biennial budget coming up in 2011.  Labor unions and other left-wing advocacy groups have made it clear they will tolerate no further cuts to their pet programs and the state will have to address what will likely be a $2-3 billion plus budget shortfall by that time.  Those groups will point to the I-1033 vote and say Washingtonians are finally ready for that dreaded state income tax.

Hey, you were warned.  We get the government we deserve.

With all precincts reporting, incumbent Moscow Mayor Nancy Chaney has won an extremely narrow victory (40 votes) over John Weber. Could they be headed to a recount?  If Chaney's win holds, it is not great news for Whitman County.  Relations between Moscow and Whitman County have been stormy during Chaney's administration.

On the Moscow City Council, Susan Scott, Walter Steed, and Tim Brown are the winners.  All in all, it's a bit of a mixed bag for the pro-business Greater Moscow Alliance, which endorsed Weber, Steed, and Brown.  Neither the pro-growth nor the anti-growth factions in Moscow won a clear mandate tonight.  Perhaps voters prefer that kind of balance.

I had a chance to talk with Susan Fagan, the likely winner of tonight's election for state representative in the Washington 9th Legislative District, after the first round of votes had been tallied:

RC:  Obviously, the numbers look really good for you right now.  You can't really declare victory yet, but what are you feeling?

Susan Fagan:  I'm really grateful for where the numbers are now.  It is a clear indication of the amount of effort and time that was put into this campaign; literally hundreds of volunteers, thousands of doorbelling efforts, and 10,000 phone calls. I always said that if hard work pays off, we will be very competitive.

RC:  Terry Nealey is beating the incumbent Democrat in the Washington 16th LD to our south and Republicans have retaken the governor's office in Virginia and New Jersey.  Do you think voters are sending a message to Democrats on health care and other issues? 

Susan Fagan: Voters want to be listened to.  I have talked to thousands of people and many voters do not beleive they are being listened to by elected offiicials on many issues, health care being one of them.

RC:  Democrats did not have a candidate in the 9th LD race.  Obviously, some of them voted for you.  Some didn't.  Do you have a message for them tonight?

Susan Fagan:  It's the same message I have had for them all along.  Democrats know me.  They know me to be a reasonable and trustworthy individual. A legislative race like this is maybe not so much political as it is community related.  I have worked with people on a variety of issues in Pullman.  We never checked each other's political credentials on the school board, hospital or raising monety for Pullman Regional Hospital.   I will be representative of all the people who live in this district.

RC: What will be your first order of business if, as seems likely, go to Olympia in January?

Susan Fagan:  First, I will need to prepare to go.  We will be facing a billion and half dollar shortfall by next session.  I will start by looking at the current budget and the past couple of budgets to see where did we cut.  I will be sent to Olympia to address economic climate, which affects every other issue in the state, such as agriculutre, education, etc.

RC: Speaking of business climate, what would you have done to keep Boeing's 787 assembly line in Washington?

Susan Fagan:  Obviously tax incentives to keep Boeing were wrong, because they didn't work.  We should be looking at the reasons overall why businesses want to leave the state.  First, we have a broken worker's compensation system.  It's more like a pension plan.  The average time off under workers comp is 266 days.  We need to fix that.  Why do we care?  Because businesses provide jobs and careers for people.  Look at the B&O tax on gross receipts.  It's a message to businesses that the state doesn't care if you are profitable or not.  We have the highest unemployment insurance costs in the nation.  The state death tax hurts family businesses and farms.  I know of many people who have moved their business out of Washington to avoid it.

Susan Fagan just addressed her supporters at her election headquarters here in Pullman,  While not declaring victory yet, Fagan was understandably confident with a nearly 11 point lead after early returns came in tonight.

Pullman Ward 3 City Council Jeff Hawbaker candidate told the crowd that the results were closer than he expected (5 votes,) but that he believes things will go his way.

Pullman City Council Ward 1 candidate Bill Paul was obviously happy and confident as he leads challenger Jeff Williams by over 200 votes.  He expressed his appreciation for those in Ward 1 who supported him, as well as throughout Pullman.